Patents Examined by Harry Y Oh
  • Patent number: 11396105
    Abstract: A sensor module is provided for adding functionality to a robot. The sensor module is attached between the robot tool flange and the end effector. Additional interchangeable modules may also be provided between the tool flange and the end effector. The sensor module includes a sensor for monitoring a condition near the end effector. An output port of the module transmits sensor data to a processor outside of the sensor module for further processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Matt Simkins, Said Zahrai
  • Patent number: 11395709
    Abstract: There is provided a control system for controlling a surgical arm device of a multi-link structure in which a plurality of links is coupled together by a joint unit in a force control mode. In generalized inverse dynamics, the control system sets a motion purpose and a constraint condition in an operation space describing an inertia of force acting on a multi-link structural body and an acceleration of the multi-link structural body, and for implementing an operation space acceleration indicating the motion purpose, calculates a virtual force acting on the operation space on the basis of a motion equation relating to the operation space including a term of an operation space bias acceleration in consideration to gravity compensation according to inclination information of the surgical arm device, and calculates a torque command value for a joint unit on the basis of a real force converted from the virtual force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Matsuda, Jun Arai, Takara Kasai, Yohei Kuroda, Wataru Kokubo
  • Patent number: 11389953
    Abstract: A construction system includes an excavator having a hydraulically controlled linkage and a hydraulic robot. The hydraulic robot includes a plurality of arms extending from a base, each arm having a hydraulic motor. The hydraulic robot further includes a robot control system directing movement of the plurality of arms and an end effector platform movable by rotation of the arms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Zhijun Cai, Daniel P. Sergison, Daniel J. Martinez, Corey L. Gorman, Rustin G. Metzger, Eric A. Reiners
  • Patent number: 11389040
    Abstract: A cleaning mode control method and a cleaning robot are configured to automatically control the cleaning robot to perform a cleaning mode corresponding to a cleaning module. The method includes: detecting whether a cleaning module is installed on the robot body; on condition of detecting the cleaning module is installed on the robot body, controlling the cleaning robot to perform a cleaning mode used in conjunction with the cleaning module; the cleaning module is a component for cleaning a ground, and the cleaning mode is a working mode of the cleaning robot. Thus, the cleaning robot is automatically controlled to perform the cleaning mode corresponding to the cleaning module, so that the work of the cleaning robot is intelligent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: Yunjing Intelligence Technology (Dongguan) Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Chang Li
  • Patent number: 11383395
    Abstract: A communications module is provided for simplifying routing of communications pathways in a robot. The communications module is attached between the robot tool flange and the end effector. Additional interchangeable modules may also be provided between the tool flange and the end effector. The communications module includes multiple input ports and at least one output port. A data switch within the module combines sensor data from multiple input ports into a single output stream that is transmitted from one or more of the output ports.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Matt Simkins, Said Zahrai
  • Patent number: 11382703
    Abstract: The invention relates to an operation-assistance system for guiding a medical auxiliary instrument (20), which can be inserted in an operating site (12) of a patient body (10) via an operation opening (11), and can be moved in a controlled manner. The system comprises a kinematic robot (3, 4, 5) that receives the medical auxiliary instrument (20) on the free end thereof by means of an auxiliary instrument holding device (6), and can be moved in a motor-controlled manner in order to guide the medical auxiliary instrument (20) in the operating site (12), by means of control signals (SS) generated by a control unit (CU). At least one voice control routine (SSR) is implemented in the control unit (CU), by means of which different voice commands (SB, SB1, SB2) are detected and evaluated and associated control signals (SS) are determined in accordance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: Aktormed GmbH
    Inventor: Robert Geiger
  • Patent number: 11386703
    Abstract: A service robot is capable of communicating with a reception device that assigns at least a reception number. The service robot includes: an image information acquirer that acquires image information including an image of a customer; a reception number acquirer that acquires a reception number from the reception device, in response to a reception operation performed by the customer; and a storage unit that stores the acquired reception number and the acquired image information in association with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: LAUREL PRECISION MACHINES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takahiro Udagawa, Shinichiro Shimbashi
  • Patent number: 11380209
    Abstract: Allocation result accumulation unit accumulates allocation results of each business operator that requests allocation of flight airspace of drone. Allocation result accumulation unit accumulates, as the allocation results, an allocated airspace amount represented by the size of allocated flight airspace and the period in which flight in the flight airspace is permitted. When allocation requests are received from multiple business operators, flight airspace allocation unit allocates flight airspace by giving priority to a high priority business operator according to the allocation results accumulated in allocation result accumulation unit with respect to each business operator. Flight airspace allocation unit allocates the flight airspace by assigning a higher priority to a business operator for which the allocated airspace amount that has been accumulated is small.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: NTT DOCOMO, INC.
    Inventors: Takefumi Yamada, Ken Koumoto, Youhei Oono, Hidetoshi Ebara, Yuichiro Segawa
  • Patent number: 11358285
    Abstract: A robot includes an output unit including at least one of a display or a speaker, a camera, and a processor configured to control the output unit to output content, to acquire an image including a plurality of users through the camera while the content is output, to determine a mood of a group including the plurality of users based on the acquired image, and to control the output unit to output feedback based on the determined mood.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventor: Yoonji Moon
  • Patent number: 11358287
    Abstract: A compact, intuitively-operable input device for manipulating a robot is provided. Provided is an input device for manipulating a robot. The input device includes: a base; a movable section supported in a three-dimensionally movable manner relative to the base; and a detector that performs detection by resolving an operation amount of the movable section relative to the base into parallel movement amounts along a first axis and a second axis, which extend parallel to a predetermined surface of the base and are orthogonal to each other, and a parallel movement amount along a third axis that is orthogonal to the first axis and the second axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yuki Ishii, Takashi Satou, Yihua Gu
  • Patent number: 11345045
    Abstract: A robot has a base, a first arm provided at the base and pivoting about a first axis relative to the base, a second arm provided at the first arm and pivoting about a second axis parallel to the first axis relative to the first arm, an inertial sensor provided in the second arm and detecting one or both of an angular velocity about an angular velocity detection axis orthogonal to an axial direction of the second axis and an acceleration in the second axis direction, a pipe located outside of the first arm and coupling the base and the second arm, and a wire placed through the pipe and electrically coupled to the inertial sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Inventors: Shingo Hoshino, Masaki Motoyoshi
  • Patent number: 11338440
    Abstract: This robot system includes a robot, a tool which is attached to the robot, an imaging device, and a controller which controls the robot and the tool, and the controller is configured so that a distal end portion of the robot is placed at a plurality of calibration positions, the tool is operated at each of the calibration positions, images of light irradiated to an object or a trace left on the object due to tool operation processing are captured by the imaging device, and calibration is performed based on comparison between irradiation positions of the light or positions of the traces, which are in an image captured by the imaging device, and predetermined reference positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hajime Suzuki, Shuusuke Watanabe
  • Patent number: 11338435
    Abstract: A gripping system includes a hand that grips a workpiece, a robot that supports the hand and changes at least one of a position and a posture of the hand, and an image sensor that acquires image information from a viewpoint interlocked with at least one of the position and the posture of the hand. Additionally, the gripping system includes a construction module that constructs a model by machine learning based on collection data. The model corresponds to at least a part of a process of specifying an operation command of the robot based on the image information acquired by the image sensor and hand position information representing at least one of the position and the posture of the hand. An operation module executes the operation command of the robot based on the image information, the hand position information, and the model, and a robot control module operates the robot based on the operation command of the robot operated by the operation module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Inventors: Shota Ishikawa, Koji Sokabe, Keisuke Nakamura, Masaru Adachi, Yuichi Sasaki, Antoine Pasquali, Thomas Wilmotte
  • Patent number: 11331808
    Abstract: A robot for performing an expression by a non-verbal reaction, includes a body including a lower part provided so as to be capable of panning and tilting with respect to a support point coupled to a placement surface; a pair of arms provided to side parts of the body so as to be capable of moving up and down; and a head provided to an upper part of the body so as to be capable of panning and tilting, wherein the non-verbal reaction includes a combination of the tilting and the panning of the body with respect to the support point and movement of the pair of arms or the head or any combination thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventors: Masaru Ide, Shinji Kanda, Toshikazu Kanaoka, Kaoru Kinoshita
  • Patent number: 11331788
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a smart grabbing device including: a controller, a container configured to accommodate articles, a grabber configured to grab the articles, and a movable mover. The mover is at a bottom of the container; the grabber is on the container; and both of the grabber and the mover are electrically coupled with the controller. The controller is configured to, control the mover to drive the smart grabbing device to move to a target position, and control the grabber to grab a target article and place the target article in the container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Zhanquan Yu
  • Patent number: 11334091
    Abstract: A map information update system according to the present disclosure includes multiple mobile robots that each acquire information on an intention of a user to move and information on a mobile robot position, one or multiple environment information acquiring robot(s) that each acquire(s) environment information, and a server that updates map information based on the information on the intention of the user to move, the information on the mobile robot position, and the environment information, and each of the multiple mobile robots includes a main body part, a handle part, a detecting part, a moving device, a guide information producing part, a presenting part, a user move intention estimating part, a mobile robot position estimating part, and a communicating part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Mayu Watabe, Kazunori Yamada
  • Patent number: 11325251
    Abstract: A robot including a manipulator driven by actuators, and configured to determine external forces and/or external torques acting upon the manipulator, the robot configured to: regulate the actuators for a sub-space T1 of a working space AR such that, upon application of an external force and/or external torque upon the manipulator, the manipulator recedes into T1, wherein following applies: T1?AR and T1?AR, and AR specifies all permitted translations and/or rotations of the manipulator; and determine, for a space TK1 that is complementary to T1, a projection {right arrow over (P)}TK1 of the external force and/or external torque into TK1, wherein following applies: T1?TK1={0}, TK1?AR, and T1?TK1=AR, classify {right arrow over (P)}TK1 into one of several predefined classes with respect to amount and/or direction and/or time curve of {right arrow over (P)}TK1, store a command and/or rule for each predefined class, and regulate the actuators as a function of classification of {right arrow over (P)}TK1 based on res
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Franka Emika GmbH
    Inventor: Saskia Golz
  • Patent number: 11318618
    Abstract: A robotic surgical system and method are disclosed for handling real-time and non-real-time traffic. In one embodiment, a surgical robotic system is provided comprising at least one robotic arm coupled to an operating table; and a control computer comprising a processor and a hardware interface, wherein the processor is configured to: receive a notification about real-time data from the operating table at the hardware interface; process the real-time data immediately upon receiving the notification; and poll the hardware interface for non-real time data from the operating table only when not processing the real-time data. Other embodiments are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Verb Surgical Inc.
    Inventor: Jignesh Desai
  • Patent number: 11318916
    Abstract: A computer includes a processor and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to identify a sensor of a vehicle with a robotic arm, capture a plurality of images of the sensor with an unmanned aerial vehicle, and actuate the robotic arm to perform maintenance on the sensor upon inputting the plurality of images to an image recognition program and obtaining output that the sensor requires maintenance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Ashwin Arunmozhi, Venkatesh Krishnan, Rashaun Phinisee, Kunal Singh
  • Patent number: 11317778
    Abstract: Disclosed is a mobile robot for determining a type and position of a home appliance present within in a traveling area and controlling the home appliance according to a control command or a situation. The mobile robot includes a controller for determining the type and position of the home appliance positioned within the traveling area based on the image acquired through an image acquisition unit, and for generating and outputting a home appliance map that is a traveling area map on which at least one of the type or position of the home appliance is indicated, wherein the home appliance is remotely controlled according to a control command of a user, a situation is determined according to the acquired information without a control command, and a home appliance appropriate for a specific situation is controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventor: Minsoo Kim